Toto Wolff seems to have broken the deadlock: he wants his protégé in Williams in place of Logan Sargeant already in the next Emilia-Romagna GP. The Formula 1 regulations, however, do not favor the 17-year-old from Bologna…
May 3 – 10.29pm – MILAN
Mercedes wants to break the deadlock and push hard on Andrea Kimi Antonelli. Raised as a pupil of Toto Wolff, who has followed him since his karting days, the 17-year-old has already had the opportunity to try his hand at the wheel of two different Formula 1 single-seaters: in mid-April the young talent from Bologna had driven the W12 at the Red Bull Ring of 2021, this week the Brackley team organized two days of testing with the W13 – the 2022 car, the only one that falls under the current regulations that can be used in private test sessions – in Imola. With results that seem to have impressed Wolff and the Mercedes leaders to the point of push them to ask the FIA for an exemption for the awarding of the Super License already this season.
THE FIA CONFIRMS
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Right in the Miami paddock, the International Federation declared that it had “received the request from Mercedes” and that it was about to evaluate the reasons: “There is a procedure that must be followed for any possible change of the rules ”, explains the FIA in the note issued to the media. The request therefore appears to have been presented precisely to bring forward the time required to obtain the “licence” to compete in Formula 1, probably with a view to put Kimi in the car as soon as possible: the seat in the balance in the event that the exemption were to arrive from the FIA should be the one currently occupied by Logan Sargeant in Williams.
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WHY IS THE EXEMPTION NECESSARY?
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In fact, at present the rules do not seem to favor Antonelli. To obtain the Super Licence, which is the minimum essential requirement to race in F1, each candidate must have obtained a certain number of points (40 specifically) by competing in the youth categories, must have reached the age of majority and have a driving license valid in your country of origin. It is precisely these last requirements that require an exemption: Kimi has in fact already collected the 40 points needed for the FIA Superlicence, but he is a minor and does not have an Italian driving license. The rule was inserted a few years ago to avoid the repetition of another “Verstappen case”: the reigning world champion had in fact debuted as a starter in F1 in 2015, when he was still only 17 years old. In the event of a negative response from the FIA, Kimi may have to wait until at least August 25th, the day on which he will blow out 18 candles and become an adult.
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